Gdańsk, is the largest city and capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland. A strategic and highly influential port for nearly a thousand years, Gdańsk was a stronghold of the Teutonic Knights, and later became an influential city within the Hanseatic League during the Middle Ages. Largely destroyed in the Second World War, Gdańsk was splendidly rebuilt in the aftermath as one of Europe's most beautiful port cities. Today, Gdańsk has a population of 460,000, and is Poland's largest northern city, drawing numerous visitors into its historic city centre, its outstanding museums, and to its expansive beaches spread along the coast of the Gulf of Gdańsk, making it a popular summer destination for many Poles and foreign visitors alike.